Caesar Crockett Jr Macon triple murder suspect surrenders during Florida standoff: King Cane Crockett, Georgia toddler safe. Child’s parents had recently become estranged.
Florida state troopers arrested a Georgia man accused of fatally shooting three people in his child’s mother’s family in Macon and kidnapping his 2 year son, authorities said Wednesday.
The arrest follows a six hour standoff along a Florida highway which ended with Caesar Zamien Lamar Crockett Jr. surrendering without incident. The initial impasse occurred after a crash near Tampa led to Caesar Crockett handing off his two year old son to police as they arrived at the scene and imploring the wanted man to give himself up.
Matters first unfolded about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday, when deputies responded to a 911 call at a home off Moreland Avenue — where they discovered three family members having been shot dead.
The three victims — Janet Samuel, 67, James Samuel, 69, and Lechasta Childs, 47 — had been shot multiple times, and another woman, 30-year-old Jamila Augustine French, also suffered a gunshot wound but survived, according to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.
The elder victims were the child’s grandparents along with his 47 year old aunt.
Family had recently become estranged as it is thought parents fought over custody:
The sheriff’s office said the bloodbath followed 29-year-old Crockett getting into an ‘altercation’ with French, his child’s mother, AJC reports.
‘Crockett pulled a firearm and shot French’s mother and stepfather and sister, killing them,’ the sheriff’s office said in a news release. French was treated for injuries she sustained during the physical altercation and released.
At some point, Crockett had lived with the child’s mother and their child before recently becoming estranged.
Crockett fled the scene in a 2007 black Pontiac G5, kidnapping his 2-year-old son, King Cane Crockett, who had been at the residence at the time of the shooting, the sheriff’s office said. This prompted a Levi’s Call, Georgia’s version of an Amber Alert, which was issued at 1 a.m. Wednesday, according to the GBI.
Crockett to be extradited back to Georgia to face murder charges:
About 12 hours later, the vehicle was spotted near I-75 and Fowler Avenue in Tampa, which prompted a high-speed chase, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Crockett reached speeds of 120 mph during the pursuit, which took place on both I-4 East and West, authorities said.
He eventually crashed his car on the exit ramp from eastbound I-4 to I-75, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Crockett then barricaded himself in the vehicle with a firearm, refusing to come out, authorities said.
However, Tampa Bay police, Florida Highway Patrol troopers and Hillsborough County (Fla.) deputies were able to get him to surrender the 2-year-old child safely to authorities. After about six hours, he surrounded as well, ending the situation about 7:40 p.m., authorities said.
Crockett is scheduled to be extradited back to Georgia to face three counts of murder and one count of kidnapping, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook press release.
The triple homicide remains under investigation, and anyone with information is asked to contact the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at 478-751 -7500 or Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 1-877-68CRIME.
